04 Motion Types Speed Control & Path Planning

🤖 Robot Programming Ch.4: Motion Types, Speed Control & Path Planning (2026) The chapter where the robot finally moves. MoveJ, MoveL, MoveC — three commands that control every industrial robot on earth. Master them and you can program any brand. What you'll learn: 🔄 Joint motion (MoveJ/PTP): fastest path, unpredictable trajectory — when and why to use it 📏 Linear motion (MoveL/LIN): controlled straight-line path for every process move ⭕ Circular motion (MoveC/CIRC): arc welding, contour following, round part handling ⚡ Speed parameters: TCP velocity, joint speed, acceleration, deceleration — tuned per application 🎯 Zone parameters: the single biggest cycle time optimization tool most programmers ignore 🔧 Singularities: what they are, why the robot stops, and how to program around them The money slide: Zone parameters alone can reduce cycle time 15-30%. Using fine at every point forces the robot to decelerate to zero at each position. Using z50-z200 on transit points lets it fly through corners without stopping. Multi-OEM code included: Complete pick-and-place programs in ABB RAPID, FANUC TP, KUKA KRL, and URScript — same logic, four different syntaxes side by side. Cycle time optimization priority list: Zone parameters (+15-30%) MoveJ for free-space (+5-15%) Path sequence optimization (+5-20%) Approach height reduction (+5-10%) I/O overlap during motion (+3-8%) Total potential: 30-60% faster than an unoptimized program. 📘 From "Robot Programming: From Fundamentals to Production-Ready Code" — First Edition 2026 by Shuvash Aryal | Geek Engineering (GeEn)